Big Oil Gets in on Right-Wing Astroturf Game

Big Oil Gets in on Right-Wing Astroturf Game:

Since Astroturf itself is made up of petroleum, there's a certain poetic symmetry in having Big Oil produce the silliest astroturf campaign yet.

The latest line of astroturf, however, is being peddled by an old flim-flammer: Big Oil. In a series of 20 mass rallies during the August congressional recess, a group called Energy Citizens is purporting to be a rebellion of common folks against Obama's climate change legislation. Who are these rebels? ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and other oil giants.

Energy Citizens was created and funded by the industry's chief lobbying organization, the American Petroleum Institute, which has already spent $3 million this year lobbying to kill the climate-change initiative. "We are about giving citizens a voice," declared a spokeswoman.

Trying to save their own skin in a time when petroleum alternatives should be sought/developed/encouraged.